Final Fantasy 8: The Novelization ::: New Chapter!
by Burnt Poultry
Summary: Not completely novelized, GF's, frequent magic and minor parts of the story are shaved off. Dialog is added and retained from the game.
1. Final Fantasy 8: The Awakening BP

Cerulean waves crash against a golden beach, roasting in the sun. Silent winds phase around, dragging sand with it. The wind speaks to the man looking into it. He has pale skin with long black hair, fastened into a ponytail. His troubled face looks down to two wedding rings in his palm, one with blood speckled onto it. With a gentle exhale from him, he tosses them into the ocean, skipping along the water like stones. His eyes shut, concealing his unusual green eyes. The wind suddenly speaks to him.

**I'll be here…**

…**Why?**

**I'll be 'waiting' … here …**

**For what?**

**I'll be waiting here … if you … come … you'll find me.**

**I promise.**

A young girl in blue stands in a flowery field; a sudden breeze encompasses the field. Her raven colored hair sails behind her as she reaches out and snatches as blowing flower petal. Her fingers unlace as the petal turns to an immaculate white feather. The wind takes it from her and her soft, angelically pale face watches it drift to the sky with a flock of petals. Her expression is confused; she rubs her upper back watching it evanesce into the clouds.

Thunder crashes through the sky and a man wielding a sword slices the feather in half. He swings at another man. His opponent in grey, his cape sliding with his movement. Another in black, no cape, he slashes at him, feathers follow his attack. The feathers encompass his vision. The girl in blue looks at him, clutches a ring around her neck, and disappears.

His vision returns to him, and the man in grey slices at him. "Enough, Seifer!" he exclaimed, raising his sword. They clink together. The spark sets him back. The man is suddenly enraged. He growls as the sword slashes down on his face. Blood splatters to the ground. He rushes up, speed is unmatchable, his boot dashes through the dirt, sword slicing the ground behind him, an influx of black feathers follow as he gives Seifer a scar to match his own. The next thing was white, the girl in blue, the man in black and the witch like woman, everything grew loud and then into a dull, deadly silence.

**Chapter 1**

**The Infirmary**

"Son? Can you remember your name?" A female voice chirped in, breaking his silence. He awoke back in school, Balamb Garden in the infirmary. Balamb was a military school, a grandiose one in fact. The décor of it resembled a college; none of the military schools looked like trash anyway, the more ornate they looked the better. Balamb, out of all three, was the smallest and most colorful. Many tones of grey, teal and blues lined the school. In such a big world, there were only two other Gardens- Trabia and Galbadia Garden. Students from the other two gardens are required to transfer here to complete the SeeD recruitment process. The trademark of the Gardens, was indeed the pure golden, silver and brass "halos" that hovered above them the full purpose of them was never known.

"Squall." Squall leaned up and put his black, gloved hand onto his forehead, feeling Seifer's slash. He pushed back his brown hair out of his face. The loner sat in the white pillow and pushed the soft grey fur out of his face. Squall dressed pretty simple. Somewhat loose black jeans, tucked in V-neck and a leather jacket. There were two things Squall valued, his sword, which was rare you'd see a person with his kind- only him and Seifer knew how to use it. The gunblade.

A gun grafted into the handle of a sword makes for one mean attack. When he pulls the trigger and swings, harsh vibrations emit, ending things quickly. His other pride, the necklace from his father. A simple chain with a titanium silhouette of a lion,- a symbol of his family. Prideful loners the Lionhearts were.

Squall suddenly snapped back to reality. Doctor Kadowaki was on the phone: "Quistis, come get your student. Yes- We can talk about it later, bye-bye." The woman turned to face Squall. She planted her hands on her hips, covered under a soft, white lab coat. "Instructor Trepe is coming now, I suggest you get ready. The headmaster asked to see me, wait here." She turned, and the sliding doors opened for her, leading her out of the infirmary.

Squall put his hand on the slash on his forehead. "Ugh." He groaned, slamming his body back down on the bed. The door opened again, the hush of the doors sliding apart startled him. A girl came in, she looked fragile. The both of them remained silent. She tapped on his hand.

"So… we meet again.." The girl said, pushing her long, healthy looking brunette hair behind her. She stood up, and began to leave, Squall just fell back asleep.

Again, the doors whizzed open, startling Squall yet again. A woman came in, in her SeeD (Balamb Garden's elite mercenary squad and only source of income) uniform. She smiled, crossed her arms and sighed. "C'mon Faker. I knew it was either you or Seifer in this bed." Her well-done golden hair flowed across her chest. "You're making me- us late for class." She'd say, her brow curving up under her glasses.

"Whatever." Squall'd growl lightly, watching Instructor Trepe silently giggle at him as he pushed the sheets off of his legs as he slid them off of the bed.

"Seriously, though, lazy ass, we've got class and if you get one more absence I have to beat you." She'd say, pivoting on her booted foot, clutching her hands together as she proceeds out of the room. Squall gagged and rolled his eyes. Quistis Trepe was the youngest SeeD and instructor in all of Balamb's history. Still, she was incredibly proper for the most part.


	2. Final Fantasy 8: The Dollet Mission BP

**Chapter 2**

**The Mission**

Squall folded his arms as he entered the classroom, eying the kids fully attentive to Instructor Trepe, who is happily marking away at the keyboard. Squall just went to his desk, which was right next to Seifer who was checking out the nice scar Squall gave him that connected from his right eyebrow to his left cheek, the exact opposite of his own. He'd roll his eyes and turn away from Seifer, planting his head on the desk, folded in between his cuffed arms.

"Alright, class for the day is dismissed." Quistis'd loudly say, her words floating right into Squall's ear, shocking him out of his class time nap. He nodded his head and Quistis turned to look at Seifer. "Oh, and Seifer, do NOT injure your partner while training, before I have to take action against you." Quistis would inform him, her voice stern yet full of heart. Quistis began walking back to the front of the room, shifting uncomfortably in the uniform. "Alright, you are all free to leave." A confidant smile would envelope her face as she perched against the brim of the desk. She waited for everyone to clear the room before she inhaled loudly at him. "Before I tell you anything about the mission- just know I didn't pick the squads, so please don't be angry with me." Squall nodded and rolled his eyes, she motioned him to follow her. "Come on- today's the field exam in Dollet. Come down when you're ready, assure to be in uniform or I cannot allow you to go." Quistis said, filing out of the room.

Down in the lobby, Quistis stood with a clipboard and was directing students around into Squads. "Okay, Squad C- you'll be taking care of intelligence and communications. Your members are Selphie Tilmitt and Nida Luz." She'd say, directing the two into the corner. Instructor Trepe looked to Squall, "Squad B- Squall Leonheart, let's see your with… Zell Dincht. He's quite a lively fellow." She'd say, giving Squall the most ironic glare she could direct from underneath her glasses.

"He's not lively, he's just loud. Can't I just switch members?" He'd beckon, voice still somewhat annoyed.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." She'd say, tightening her grip on the clipboard, she spotted Zell. "Zell, over here!" She'd call, her arm waving him over.

The spry martial artist, Zell he made people call him, was good at his skill and wanted everyone to know. His way of introducing himself was a series of show-off acts, which faintly resembled a terrible Mentos commercial. A quick yet fierce blow to the air as he launched his elbow into the nothingness behind him. He nodded to Quistis and Squall, whose expressions were quite annoyed, as he hurled his body backwards, performing three back flips and landing on his feet- perfectly. He chuckled and toughly walked over, offering his hand. "Nice! I'm with you!" Squall, of course, rejected his hand shake with a mere turn away. "Tch, heard that tool bag and you got into it pretty good this morning."

Quistis choked up a muffled laugh as she announced to the two boys: "I wouldn't talk about him like that. He's your squad leader." A brush of anxiety whipped Zell and Squall into a growl and sigh. Seifer, with his posse, the Garden's own 'Disciplinary Committee' made up of Fujin and Raijin, Seifer's posse. Raijin talked too much and Fujin barely talk at all, though when she did it was always terse and strong. The two were fiercely strong and domineering, alike Seifer. "Good luck to you, Seifer, you're the squad leader."

"Instructor… I hate when you wish me luck.. save that for a bad student who needs it." He'd say, Raijin chuckling and patting his back.

"I did." She'd simply say, turning towards the garage. "Don't bother- we're late as it is." She'd snarl towards Seifer, who in seconds would have been whining. Instructor Trepe immediately gave the salute, upon glance catching with Headmaster Cid. The rest of them hastily followed her as she offered the salute.

"Hello, it's been awhile everyone. The mission will consist of 12 SeeD candidates, in Squads A – D. You will be going to a REAL battlefield in Dollet. Obviously, the battles are for real. Carry with you the pride of Balamb. Good luck, men." The headmaster proudly preached, stepping out of the way to allow Quistis and the three boys to pass towards the garage.

**Chapter 3**

**Dollet Follies**

About ten minutes of driving, they had reached the piers, and there was only one boat left docked into the shallow pier. Not even before Zell fully got out of the truck, one of the SeeD captains, Xu called over. "Come on, hurry up! You're the last ones to get here!" She'd command, furiously pointing to the boat, where Seifer, Zell, Squall, Quistis and Xu quickly piled into. "Hello, everyone. I'll explain the current situation." Xu confided strongly. Xu was the fair skinned girl with dark maple-shaded locks, who appeared to be of or just a year above Quistis' age, was a more calmed rival with Quistis, as she made SeeD one induction after Quistis and stealing the title as the youngest recruit. "Our client for the mission is the Dollet Parliament. A request for SeeD was made around 18 hours ago. Dollet has been under attack by the Galbadian army for about 72 hours. We'll be landing on the Dollet shoreline. The objective is to eliminate the remaining G-Army troops and liberate the city A.S.A.P."

Zell clapped his hands: "Sounds important!"

Seifer just yawned slightly and snapped back. "Sounds boring." He rolled his head to Xu. "So, what you're saying is we do the dirty work?"

Jasmine pinched her eyes shut and ignored Seifer. "…." She cleared her throat and proceeded. "This hardly means anything, but the order to withdraw is your number one priority. You shall drop everything you are doing, and report to the shoreline. Do not forget." She'd nod and returned to the cockpit.

Seifer turned to Squall. "Go check if our arrival is imminent." His voice was quite strong and advanced sounding, as if he adopted Quistis' dialect. "You know, since it's my order and everything." Seifer would command, gloved hand patting on the hard leather seat.

"Whatever…" Squall would just lightly say, rising to his feet. His muscled body would pivot to face the ladder, where he'd position himself in front of and climb up. Squall pulled himself on top, where he'd be standing on deck and on the faintly orange horizon- he saw it; Dollet under siege. Squall's fingers gripped the iron railing tightly as the sound of his heartbeat overlapped reality- almost as if all other sound was negated and channeled to that of his beating heart.

The other SeeD boats raced to the shoreline, trails of white foam lapping against the vessels behind them. Squall would tighten his eyelids around the blue eyes they contained, he would look back up to face Dollet - fire and missiles coated the city. Xu pushed the boat into high gear as she plowed against the beach, flattening a Galbadian soldier against the sand. Squall pulled his body back in haste, and ripped forward. He leaped over the ten foot ledge and landed on the sand, Seifer and Zell already ahead. Squall turned to face the ship and nodded to Quistis as she shut the heavy metal doors, breaking their stare.

Within moments of getting to city level, three Galbadian soldiers rushed the unexpecting boys. Seifer hastily slashed his way right through the soldier that opposed him and kept running- disregarding the other two completely. Zell viciously inserted his fist directly through the helmet of the soldier, his eyes turning back to Squall, who was already finished with the soldier, evidenced by the two large pieces squirming in the sand. "Let's go!" Zell barked, both following Seifer through the coble-stoned shopping district where eye contact was met between a clumsy looking brunette, their eyes fixated on her unusual curls for a moment.

"Come on, buddy!" The brunette commanded, clocking out a soldier with her nunchaku's, sending him to the ground. "Who said the communications squad can't be badass, HUH!?" She yelped, kicking her foot at the helmet of the downed troop- and missed, sending her skinny frame into a spin.

"You need an answer after that one?" Zell asked the newfound ballerina as they ran by. All they heard was an angry, angry grunt.

Upon reaching the town square, which was a suffocated fountain in the center of tall stores, all fenced in with a cobblestone street, a lone troop launched himself at the boys, sword curling back as to swing. Zell charged him, grabbing at his iron collar and using his bulky muscle to hurl the flailing man right at Seifer. "Batter up!" Zell called out, Seifer swinging as if his sword were a bat, and essentially slicing the foolish troop. "HOMERUN!" Zell cheered, letting out a small victorious laugh. Zell's macho display of muscle distracted Squall and Seifer, only catching a last glimpse of two more soldiers running past them, and up a wide alleyway. It seemed for a moment, all three of them got along.

Seifer grunted. "Well, great. Y'let them go." Seifer walked past Zell, who was twitching with frustration, looked up the winding path. Seifer felt his eyes connecting with the old communications tower, just on top of the cliff. The body of the aged machinery was lighting up for the first time in decades. The other two joined Seifer in their amused gawk.

"WOAH! What's that?!" Zell screamed in question, clapping with his fists.

"It's our next destination." Seifer would snarl, taking off in high-toe towards it, has gray coat tail swaying behind him. Zell and Squall looked at each other, knowing Seifer would get the blame for leaving, they ran after their leader.


End file.
